"At ease, lieutenant," the General said with a nod, "Sergeant, let the others come in," he adds as the techs finish scanning the room. With a nod to the General, the techs are dismissed and the doors close soundly behind you. "Come, sit. I am General Crix Madine," he says by way of introduction, "this is Jedi Master Leia Skywalker," he adds and Jedi Master Leia smiles softly at you, quieting whatever concerns you might have had.



This message was last edited by the GM at 01:22, Thu 06 Jan 2011.

At seeing Crix Madine, Kal's mind started to try to put the pieces together.  If the Commando General himself had requested Kal's involvement, then his previous intelligence gathering work must have been noticed by someone. Perhaps his unique skillset was required for something rather important if a Republic General and a Jedi Master were involved.

Upon being commanded to be at ease, Kal moved his left foot forty centimeters to the left and placed his hands behind his back, grabbing the left wrist with right hand. He looked at the general and then Leia. "Master Skywalker, General Madine." he said as a greeting. Normally a general would be given top billing, but he hoped that Crix wouldn't take offense at being put after the Jedi Master.

Once he is ordered to sit, Kal responded, "Aye, sir." before he walked toward the table. Kal recognized that there is a lady present and dutifully pulled out a chair for Claire, with a smile as he did so.

Once she had seated herself, Kal would take his own seat.

Once everyone is finally seated, General Madine seems satisfied and nods to the Jedi Master. Thumbing another switch on a strange device, he sets it in the center of the chamber where it begins to pulse sofly. "Now, that our conversation can occur in secrecy, let us begin," he says with a grin as he waves for Master Leia Skywalker to begin.

"Thank you, General. Everyone," she says with a smile. "As you might all know by now, my brother Luke disappeared from the temple roughly three years ago. What the Temple has kept out of the media all these years is that he left a dead Jedi Historian, before disappearing from the Temple with all his personal belongings as well as an ancient jedi artefact we found on Telos. After months spent fruitlessly searching for him, the Jedi Council had no choice but to inform the Senate of Luke's troubling disappearance. This sparked a series of heated debates, as many older Senators remember Palpatine and Dooku's respective betrayals. Needless to say that I spent a great deal of effort trying to assuage fears after rumors ignited of another Jedi-led coup.

"Roughly a year after my brother's disappearance, I started having troubling visions of him, swathed in shadows, and I now fear that he may have begun delving into the dark side. I am particularly concerned since the artefact he stole was in fact Sith holocron that we'd only just started to catalogue," she explained, a pained expression crossing her beautiful features.


Sensing that he should intercede, General Madine started filling in the details of the investigation at the onset of Master Skywalker's disappearance. "In sum, it revealed nothing. It's as if he left the galaxy. And then, just a few weeks ago, Republic Military Intelligence received a communique from an agent on a remote outer-rim world. The agent claimed he'd seen Luke Skywalker on the planet. Let me tell you, that we were quite surprised, and we don't hold much credence to the report, but investigate we must. This is where you come in," he said. "So far, any questions?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:41, Fri 07 Jan 2011.

Being at the Jedi Temple, Claire didn't see much harm in walking around with a "hot" blaster.  After all, Jedi shouldn't see much harm from a blaster.  They could sense the danger and be prepared to draw lightsaber and deflect any shots.  Concern for their inability to do so was furthest from Claire's mind.  But once she saw the guards, then she saw the merit on flicking the safety on her blaster back on.  They obviously would have different feelings about a "hot" blaster in the presence of the general they were there to protect.

Once inside, Kal did another thing that struck Claire as unwelcome.  At first it just seemed odd to pull a chair out and then not sit in it.  This resulted in few moments of them staring at each other and her not comprehending the gesture.  This lead to feelings of discomfort, which were not welcome.  Eventually this stare down come to an end when Claire decided that he's the officer and she's the expendable bountyhunter.  That means he pulls rank on her, and thus she should be the one to back down first.  In this case, backing down being taking the seat and thus putting herself in the weaker position should a fight break out.  Of course, she knew that this was a considered a polite gesture among Humans.  She had seen her father do it once for her mother... only once.  She slugged him.  To this day she still regards what Humans call "polite" behavior toward women as only an attempt to weaken them in social situations.  Her muscled tensed as she felt prepared to slug Kal for publicly belittling her.  But then she remembered she was in the presence of many more Humans who are too foolish to see things her way.

Once that uncomfortable situation was out of the way, she sat still and listened to what was much more comfortable to her: a mission briefing.  Usually the background on the mission given doesn't matter a whole lot to her task.  Claire never questions why anyone does the wrong thing that warrants a warrant.  It's always for doing one stupid thing or another.  In this case it's a Jedi Master who killed a historian and took something that didn't belong to him.  The only thing different about this than the usual bounty she'd take was the fact that it was a Jedi Master.

Once the general and Leia are done saying their fill and entertaining questions, one immediately comes to Claire's mind.  "Wait, if Luke murdered that historian a year ago and ran off, why are you only now doing something about it?  Have you been cutting him a break because... what?  He's your brother?  Or he's a Jedi Master?  That's not really a question.  I know Jedi Masters are always given the... How you say?  Reason of the doubt?  Even though they should be held to a higher standard and never given that second chance.  I'm just asking why you gave him so much time to get ahead of justice?  What, because you started having visions now?  Or was it just stupidity?  I tell you, you don't need Jedi visions to tell you someone has gone bad.  Killing a historian should have been your first and only clue.  What harm could a historian do to him?  Bore him to death?", Claire asks in too many words for the crux of her actual question.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:40, Fri 07 Jan 2011.

Kal had been pleased when Claire finally accepted her seat. He could sense extreme appreciation in the way she paused before accepting his chivalry. Despite her silence on the turbolift, Kal knew that deep down, Claire really liked him. He let that happy thought dance around inside his brain as he took his seat and listened to the Jedi woman and General Madine talk about a lost Jedi Master.

When questions were requested, Kal looked up from the datapad on which he was taking notes. Before he could ask any questions, Claire began to speak, and Kal smiled as he turned his face toward her.

Her questions were nothing if not probing, though she didn't seem to have much tact. Given her demeanor, that wasn't too much of a surprise. He avoided chuckling at the joke about the deceased only being able to bore people to death. He didn't think the others in the room would find much humor in that question. Since Claire had already asked several questions, Kal simply turned back toward Crix and Leia to get their thoughts on what Claire had to say.

Mi listened to everything before taking a chair himself.  He sighed shaking his head slightly. How common it was for bounty hunters to jump to conclusions.  There was no question in his mind that this woman was a bounty hunter or never enough for his mind to count her as one.

"My dear did you not hear them say that they did pursue him immediately?  I believe that the master said clearly they spend month fruitlessly searching for him."  His tone was condescending he did nothing to hide it.

It had bothered him that Master Luke Skywalker had killed a historian before his leaving.  It troubled him as historians were the keeper of knowledge and understanding. Such a treasure should not be slaughtered without good reason.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:33, Sat 08 Jan 2011.

"Quite so," Madine said nodding at Mi Truev, though Master Leia seemed unphased by the accusations. "No leaf was left unturned and absolutely no special arrangements were made for Former Master Skywalker. However, this particular mission must remain confidential. The Senate must rightfully be informed immediately if we do confirm that Skywalker has resurfaced, but not until we are absolutely certain, doing otherwise would unnecessarily incite conflict.

"Speaking of which," grumbled the General, "the Republic has paid many agents on many worlds. This particular informant is called Ulu Teem. He is a Gran… a merchant whose loyalties we purchased some time ago. He’s been our eyes and ears on many worlds, but after a recent dereliction of duty, has been relegated to Koshibal. Because of this ... unreliability, we've concerns with the authenticity of the report," the general explained. "We'd need you to go to Kosibal, contact Ulu Teem and see if you can either confirm or deny the intel, or even better, follow the leads and find Master Skywalker."
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:01, Sat 08 Jan 2011.

"If we find Master Skywalkwer, our orders are to monitor and detain if the opportunity arises?" The voice came from the main entrance of the room, where a new woman joined the group.  Beautiful with striking black hair and lighter colored eyes, she strode confidently into the room where the meeting was being held.  If it was not clear by her robes, the two lightsabers clipped to her waist were enough to identify her as a Jedi. "Sorry for my tardiness, I was held up in the lobby."

Once a part of the group, she looked around.  By her expression, she seemed rather confident about her appraisal of the situation - that she thought that detaining Luke Skywalker would be something they could do easily.  Then again, with four of them - one being her, of course - it was a possibility, especially if Luke was innocent.  "Well?"

Kal turned his head toward the interrupter of the meeting. It appeared that a Jedi would be joining them on this mission, which ought to increase substantially their chances of success.

Once the surprise of the newcomer's arrival had worn off, Kal flashed the lady a smile before turning back toward the general and Jedi Master for their answer. He added a question of his own.  "Do you have any further information about Ulu? Perhaps something that would make him more willing to answer our questions if he is initially resistant, or perhaps some way of demonstrating to him that we speak with the authority of Republic?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:11, Sat 08 Jan 2011.

Madine turned to face the latest arrival and arched his eyebrow at Jedi Master Leia who simply smiled disarmingly. "I suppose you are Mirax Bey then, the Order's representative on this mission," he grumbled, "please have a seat."

"For the moment your mission is to go to Kosibal, contact Ulu Teem and see if you can either confirm or deny the intel, or even better, follow the leads and find Skywalker's whereabouts. Once you find him, you should not engage him directly. You should notify us at the first opportunity once you do confirm the rumor; we will then close in to help bring him to justice," he added, before turning his attention on Lieutenant Wennyn.

"Which is why, for the time being, this mission must remain confidential and why Republic Military Intelligence wants a pair of eyes on site. This will be you, of course. Ulu Teem should be cooperative once you make it clear to him that you are from RMI, but I'm afraid you can only trust him so far... so be careful."

Kal scooted his chair over a tad to make room for Mirax to join them. For clarification, Kal repeated back to the general, "If I understand your orders, sir, we are to contact him and I'm to let him know that I'm RMI to gain what information we can. However, we are not to try to capture him, rather leaving that to a team that you are putting together. Knowledge of our mission should only be given to other sentients on a 'need-to-know' basis."

Kal switched from repeat-back mode to question mode. "Do we have any other assets on Koshibal we should be aware of sir? Also, being RMI you know I'm greedy for intelligence, knowing that it often saves lives - in this case ours. Any further information that can be provided about Ulu's tendencies, personality, associates, and the like could be useful to our mission."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:23, Sat 08 Jan 2011.

Mi sat in his chair observing everything that was happing in the room.  He looked over the new jedi that entered the room  his eyes settling on her pair of lightsabers for a moment.  He wondered for a moment what she considered herself in the ranks of the jedi.  He let the though pass from his mind almost as quickly as it had come, it was not his place to judge only to observe.  He had nothing to add to the mission briefing merely listening to the questions and answers.   He preferred gaining his own intelligencer rather then relying on that of others.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:16, Mon 10 Jan 2011.

Claire leans back in her chair.  She crosses her legs and laces her fingers together in a casual but thoughtful manner.  "Tried, you say?  Left no leaf unturned, you say?  Have you ever looked at a forest?  There is no end of leaves to turn.  The Galaxy is a forest.  If you didn't turn up anything before, it is because you didn't try hard enough.  Or perhaps you were only turning the leaves of a certain species of tree and ignoring all the others.  Surely in all your searching you must have come up with some other intel; something you didn't consider reliable because it came from an unconfirmed source?", she asks making it sound like a more legitimate question compared to her last one.

Mirax found herself taking an immediate dislike to the woman - Claire - as she spoke up.  By what she said, it was very clear she had never dealt with Republic Intelligence, or the Jedi before.  Or, if she had... she hadn't been paying attention.  "Yeesh, who hired her?" she said, rolling her eyes a bit.  "You've never dealt with Jedi before, have you?  The Republic Intelligence is among the best in the galaxy in this area.  However, even they are not well suited to hunting down Jedi.  And I'll remind you it is not just any Jedi we are trying to find - it is a Jedi Master, one of the best.  The best we could hope for is a planet.  Any more specific leads he could tell us now will have dried up by the time we get there."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:55, Mon 10 Jan 2011.

The general turned his attention to Kal, "Yes, exactly. You have a firm understanding of the situation and of the mission parameters. One thing I should underline is that we'd like you to send us updates whenever there are new developments. With respect to Koshibal, I'm afraid that we don't have any other resources out there. You'll be on your  own. As  to Ulu's psychological profile… let's just say that Ulu is a spice merchant and has been on the Republic Payroll since the end of the Clone Wars. He was responsible for three Hutt worlds, but his addiction to his own product has cost him much – and he’s been relegated to that backwater planet ever since."

The general seemed pleased by Kal's line of questioning, but Claire's obviously struck a nerve. "Madame, keep your anger for Skywalker himself, the Senate has given everyone enough of a good roasting about that since. We certainly don't need more of the same from you. What matters is that Skywalker has perhaps resurfaced and now's the time to swoop in and arrest him. Everything else is irrelevant," Madine said stiffly before nodding at Mirax.

"Indeed. She wasn't chosen for her diplomatic skills, that is certain," Madine said wrily, "however, as unfamiliar as she with diplomacy, she excells at Dosh Ball, and has significant experience with gladiatoral rings and teams, which might be worth the headache given that the hutts love bloodsports," he said.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:50, Mon 10 Jan 2011.

Kal quirked an eyebrow as he looked at Claire, even more attracted to her than when he had first met her. Dosh Ball? What an amazing woman!

He nodded to the general as Crix confirmed Kal's understanding, and once the general had finished, he responded, "A spice dealer, eh sir? Hm." Kal stroked his clean-shaven chin as his mind started to work on the spice dealer angle briefly. He then responded again to the general, "How do you plan to insert us onto Koshibal, sir? And when do we leave?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:52, Tue 11 Jan 2011.

"I'm afraid that time is of the essence and that you will have to leave at the first opportunity. We have a lead, slim as it is, and we have to act quickly in order to follow the trail, if there is one to be followed. Plus, if you leave with the cover of darkness, it should keep you out of the limelight long enough to leave Coruscant incognito," the general explained.

"We’ve arranged passage for you on a cargo transport, The Black Comet. Its captain is a Duros called Pugwis who's worked for us before, and is a decent pilot who knows the outer rim. We’ve promised him an escort as well… which doubles as his payment. Well… you'll see what I mean. You can find him in his favorite hangout here on Coruscant… the Rodian's Kiss. Meet him this evening and make arrangements for departure. He's expecting you, but he won't be returning you home... Once you’ve finished in Koshibal, our agent Ulu can arrange transport for you."
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:17, Tue 11 Jan 2011.

Kal again glanced at his chrono. "Since it's already evening, sir, then we should be on our way, unless there is any more information you wish to provide. I'll also need to quickly change attire if you want me to leave incognito." Kal stood from his seat, prepared to be dismissed.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:47, Tue 11 Jan 2011.

Interesting... no planned return.  I could understand a lack of a date, but no ship or pilot?  It was almost as if they weren't expected to return.  This was a fairly defeatist way of looking at the situation, but she had to consider the reasoning for wanting them to leave at night as well.  Sure, they wanted to avoid media coverage, but a Jedi and three other select individuals would not draw attention to begin with.  Mirax knew better than to be suspicious of General Madine though - all she had heard of him told her he was a respectable man.  She didn't have to trust Republic Intelligence though.

So, Mirax settled on the suspicions that RI had given the mission a very low survivability rate, something to keep in mind. Perhaps they had already found Luke Skywalker, but had determined that he was beyond the point of redemption - that it wasn't worth the risk to send in their own operatives.  She kept her ideas silent, though Leia would likely be able to sense her suspicion through the Force.  It was difficult to hide.

Sensing that the meeting draws to a close, General Madine gets up: "Good fortune, everyone. I'll expect regular progress reports from Kal over the standard RMI coded holonet channels as things progress." At which point Master Leia simply smiles, and softly - but with a great deal of controlled emotion - admonishes the team to be mindful.

"I love my brother a great deal, and I wish for his return more than anything, but if he is now walking a dark path, he could be very dangerous. If you do encounter  Luke - please do NOT to engange him. Simply report the discovery immediately to General Madine." With a soft tear and a smile, she adds, "May the Force be with you."

Kal nodded at General Madine. "I will provide regular reports as the mission allows, sir." He then turned to the teary-eyed Leia. "We will not engage your brother, ma'am. As soon as we find him, General Madine will know."

With that, Kal stood at attention. He said goodbye with nothing more than "By your leave, general, Master Skywalker." before turning on his heel and heading for the door, and the gaping maw of the fearsome turbolift that waited beyond.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:29, Wed 12 Jan 2011.

"May the Force be with you, Master Skywalker," Mirax replied.  She had great respect for Leia, and knew that she would need the blessing more than she would on her mission.  Luke was her only family, after all.  Then, dipping her head in a light bow to her and the General, Mirax strode off behind Kal towards the turbolift.  She held her head high - this mission was to be her test for knighthood, or so she hoped.  If she was successful... then she would no longer be a padawan in the Order.

"Fine, I won't try to apprehend Skywalker if I see him.  But he's no fool.  He may figure out that we're following him.  In which case... well, I'm glad I have no particular attachment to any of my limbs.  I just hope The Republic provides good health insurance.", says Claire by way of confirmation of her instructions.

Once clear of the room, Kal headed to the turbolift and paused before he used the call button to request the next available lift. As he waited, he used his datapad to search for information on the Rodian's Kiss. As Mirax approached, he straightened and put the datapad in his left hand by his hip and extended his right to her in greeting. He smiled as he said, "Lieutenant Kal Wennyn, ma'am."

Mirax wasn't surprised at Kal's politeness.  She had already judged him to be a respectable man.  Arriving at the lifts, she shook his hand firmly, and returned the greeting, even though she had already been introduced by the General.  "Mirax Bey, Jedi Padawan... for now, anyway."